DreamWorks Animation Television

Logo used since 2012
Formerly	DreamWorks Television Animation (1996–1999)
Company type	Division
Industry	Animation Television production
Founded	1996; 29 years ago (1996) (as DreamWorks Television Animation) 2013; 12 years ago (2013) (as DreamWorks Animation Television)
Founders	Steven Spielberg Jeffrey Katzenberg David Geffen
Defunct	1999; 26 years ago (1999) (first incarnation)
Headquarters	1000 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201 , United States
Areas served	Worldwide
Products	Animated television series
Parent	DreamWorks Television (1996–1999) DreamWorks Animation (2013–present)
Website	dreamworks.com/shows

DreamWorks Animation Television (formerlyDreamWorks Television Animation, abbreviated asDWATV) is an Americananimation studio that serves as the televisionproduction arm ofDreamWorks Animation, itself a subsidiary ofUniversal Pictures and a division ofComcast'sNBCUniversal. Its first programs from the 1990s and early 2000s used the live-action television logo, and were produced byDreamWorks Television, before DWATV and its parent company were spun off into an independent company in 2004 and later purchased by NBCUniversal in 2016. In total, the division has released 60 programs, with 6 in development.

The company was first formed in 1996 as the animation division ofDreamWorks Television, a subsidiary of the main live-actionDreamWorks Pictures studio. DreamWorks Pictures also had an animated film subsidiary namedDreamWorks Animation, although DreamWorks Television Animation did not operate as a subsidiary of it in the 1990s. DreamWorks' TV division was spearheaded byJeffrey Katzenberg andSteven Spielberg and was headed by formerWalt Disney Television Animation executives Gary Krisel and David Simon.^[1] DWTA only produced two series:Invasion America andToonsylvania. In a move to consolidate, DreamWorks Television Animation was shut down in 1999 with the direct-to-video subsidiary subsequently merged into the studio's feature animation division, as a way for the company to reorganize its animation divisions to operate under one umbrella.^[2] More than two-thirds of the TV division's 50 employees were transferred to the direct-to-video unit and it was expected that only a minimal number of employees would be affected by the reorganization.^[2]

In September 2001, DreamWorks released an animated series forFox Kids titledAlienators: Evolution Continues. This series was based on the 2001 live-action filmEvolution, which was released earlier in 2001 by DreamWorks Pictures (withColumbia Pictures handling international distribution).^[3] Since DreamWorks Television Animation had shut down by this point, the series was handled by the main DreamWorks Television division, in association withDIC Entertainment,Columbia TriStar Television and other parties. In August 2004, DreamWorks released a3D animated television series titledFather of the Pride. This was the first animated series to be officially produced by DreamWorks Animation.

In December 2005, it was announced thatParamount Pictures' parent companyViacom was purchasing DreamWorks' live-action film and television studios, with the $1.6 billion deal being finalized at the beginning of February 2006.^[4] The deal included the library of the defunct DreamWorks Television Animation,^[5] as well as including a six-year distribution agreement for past and future DreamWorks Animation films, with DreamWorks Animation having split into its own separate company in October 2004.^[4] The rights toFather of the Pride remained with DreamWorks Animation when it spun off from DreamWorks Pictures in October 2004.^[6] Paramount gained partial ownership ofAlienators: Evolution Continues, as the rights to this show were originally split between DIC Entertainment and DreamWorks Television. DreamWorks' live-action film and television studios briefly operated as labels of Paramount, before becoming independent entities again in late 2008, due to internal tensions.^[7] Following the split, Paramount still retained the rights to the libraries of DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks Television and DreamWorks Television Animation; the split also did not affect its ongoing distribution agreement with DreamWorks Animation.^[8] Paramount's distribution agreement with DreamWorks Animation ended on December 31, 2012, and in July 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced they had reacquired the distribution rights to their films from Paramount, transferring these rights to their new theatrical and home video distribution partner20th Century Fox.^[9]

In 2013, DreamWorks Animation entered a multi-year content deal withNetflix to provide 300 hours of exclusive original content.^[10] The intent of the deal was to establish a reliable income for the studio to defray thefinancial risk of solely relying on the theatrical film market.^[11] The next day, DWA completed a five-year licensing agreement withSuper RTL for the Classic Media library and the Netflix slate.^[12] DWA announced executive hiring for its new television group, DreamWorks Animation Television in late July. Former Nickelodeon senior executive Margie Cohn became Head of Television for the group.^[13] In September that same year, DreamWorks announced that it has acquired the TV library of London-basedChapman Entertainment with the programs to distributed through DWA's UK-based TV distribution operation.^[14]

In late 2014, DreamWorks Animation launched its own channel called theDreamWorks Channel. DreamWorks made a deal withHBO Asia to handle affiliate sales, marketing and technical services, the network will launch in several Asian countries (excluding China and Japan) in the second half of 2015.^[15] The channel first premiered in English on August 1, 2015, and a Thai-dubbed channel launched in September 2015.^[16] In 2016, DreamWorks Animation Television and its parent company were purchased byComcast through itsNBCUniversal subsidiary.^[17][18][19]

• List of Universal Television programs
• List of Universal Animation Studios productions

• Official website

• 1996 establishments in California
• Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
• Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
• American animation studios
• Television production companies of the United States
• Companies based in Glendale, California
• American companies established in 1996
• Mass media companies established in 1996
• Steven Spielberg
• DreamWorks Animation
• Universal Pictures
• NBCUniversal
• Corporate spin-offs
• American corporate subsidiaries
• Jeffrey Katzenberg
• David Geffen

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